Welcome, Sea Monkeys! We’re so happy you’re aboard! and/or pre-peating: For best health results, wash your This special edition of The SeaMonkey is designed to hands frequently. (Keeping the rest of you clean helps, answer the Important Questions you no doubt have as the too.) Really, really, really. We must present a united JoCo Cruise begins. Existential questions, such as: how front to the microbes that want to colonize our epider¬ does this thing work? Where is everybody, and what are mis and intrude on our good time. There are lots of hand they doing? How do I have fun, and how often do I have to sanitizer stations all around the ship. Please use them! wash my hands? Read on, intrepid voyagers, all will become clear! Soon after that, it will become super fun. IMPORTANT THING #3: MARVEL AT THE GAME ROOM! We’ve once again managed to improve the 24/7 IMPORTANT THING #1: BRING YOUR BADGE to JoCo Cruise Game Room, which this year is sponsored all JoCo Cruise concerts and events listed in this bulle¬ by Steve Jackson Games. Thanks in part to their spon¬ tin. Yes, do this because we’ll be checking for them, and sorship, we were able to purchase our own swanky E R O also because it’ll make you feel exclusive and important, 4-top card tables and have them brought aboard, which O M too. Because you are. should expand overall capacity and be generally better M O T suited for gaming. We have the entire 4,000 square-foot © A IMPORTANT THING #2: WASH YOUR HANDS! Conference Center (Deck 2 - forward) all week long, O T O You’ll hear this a lot on the ship, and it bears repeating which will be set up in different configurations depend¬ PH ing on what’s going on each day. This room also functions as a bit of a nerve center for commu¬ DAY 1 OFFICIAL MINI-SCHEDULE nications once we’re underway. You’ll find 2 pm New Monkey Orientation Alhambra Theatre - Deck 3 Forward more about all of that elsewhere in this guide. 3 pm Welcome Cocktail Reception (featuring Mystery Brewing beer) Studio B (enter through the On Air Club, DAY 2 OFFICIAL MINI-SCHEDULE Deck 3 via the Aft elevators) 3 pm Pat Rothfuss / Paul and Storm 4:30 pm Muster (Lifeboat) Drill (doors8:30) Alhambra Theatre 5:30 pm Sail Away! Head up on deck and watch the land 6 pm Dinner and your terrestrial worries recede over the horizon! Main Dining Room 6 pm Dinner 8:30 pm 5th Annual Paul F. Tompkins Memorial Main Dining Room - Deck 3 Aft Moustache Formal Fezstravaganza Main Pool 9 pm Jonathan Coulton (Full Band Show) (doors8:30) Studio B 9:30 pm Fancy Movie Night: The Princess Bride Main Pool 10:30 pm “Welcome, New Monkeys” Mixer - Studio B ONBOARD BOOKING FOR JOCO CRUISE 2016 Once again this year we’ll be taking deposits through RCI for the next JoCo Cruise. We’ll have full details about JoCo Cruise 2016 a bit later, but we’ve confirmed that RCI is extending the special stateroom account credits to JoCo Cruise’s onboard bookers. The offer is different from last year’s, but the same rules still apply: only one credit can be applied per cabin, and and if the passenger who made the pre-booking cancels, any credits tied to that booking disappear. • $200 stateroom account credit for booking Suites (JS and above) • $100 stateroom account credit for booking Balcony cabins • $50 stateroom account credit for booking Outside cabins • $25 stateroom account credit for booking Interior cabins PHOTO AND VIDEO POLICY JoCo Cruise imposes no restrictions on where and when its cruisers may capture light photons and audio waves, and generally encourages you to do so, as well as share those images and recordings with others. JoCo Cruise operates under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Sharealike license. That said, four things: • At times, Royal Caribbean’s photo and video policies may be different from JoCo Cruise’s. If there’s a conflict, we must defer to Royal Caribbean’s policy. • Please be mindful and respectful of others when recording. Do not block aisles or anyone else’s view with your equipment or self; or if someone puts their hands up to block their face while you’re pointing a camera at them, that probably means they’re not in the mood to be recorded. • Some performers may ask that their performances not be recorded, or indicate that they may be recorded but not publicly reposted. In such cases we ask that everyone respect those requests. We’ll do our best to get word out in advance regarding performers’ preferences. A WORD ABOUT GRATUITIES . . . Just a reminder that your shipboard gratuities have been pre-paid as part of your JoCo Cruise fare, so you can ignore any of the ship’s notifications and reminders about gratuities. If you find that you’ve been billed for gratuities, call or visit the ship’s Guest Services desk. That said, you should of course feel free to give additional amounts to any Independence staff member(s) you feel helped make your experience extra special, or if you just enjoy tippin’! ONBOARD COMMUNICATIONS Whether it’s your first or fifth JoCo Cruise*, or somewhere • The Helper Monkeys. At all of JoCo Crusie’s Official in between, you’ve probably noticed there’s a whole lot Events (and many Shadow Cruise events), you’ll find going on every day and OH MY GOSH THERE IS TOO the amazing Helper Monkeys, who will have special MUCH HAPPENING CANNOT PROCESS BEEP! BOOP! neon-colored badge lanyards (to which tags cleverly BLORP! SYSTEM FAILURE! EJECT! TERMINATE! labeled “HELPER MONKEY” are attached). When a EXTERMINATE! EXTERMINATE! TEN SECONDS Helper Monkey is “on-duty,” he or she can help answer UNTIL SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE COMMENCES! any JoCo Cruise question you might have. Or, if they don’t know the answer, they’re empowered to find RELAX. It’s cool. Even if it were possible, you don’t out. You can also turn to Helper Monkeys if you’re have to do everything. Of course we want to see you at concerned about a Code of Conduct violation (see all the main Official Events (and we know you’re going page 11 for Code of Conduct), or if you need to to love the snot out of them all), but you should always report a harassment incident. For general Indepen¬ feel free to pick and choose what you want to do. Or dence of the Seas or related Royal Caribbean ques¬ even, at times, do nothing at all. Which, when on a big tions, please consult the ship’s materials and staff. swanky ship plying the blue depths of the Caribbean, • Helper Monkey Help Desk. You can also usually can sometimes be a most enjoyable thing. For example, find the amazing Helper Monkeys at the info desk just did you notice all that blue water out there? It’s fun just outside the Game Room. It’s really pretty cool that the to watch it from time to time. Game Room is sponsored by Steve Jackson Games. That said, to make it as easy as possible for you to Just sayin’. know what’s happening when, we, as well as a few • Master Control in the Game Room, inside the enterprising Sea Monkeys, have developed lots of ways Game Room, which is sponsored by Steve Jackson to help keep you informed as the week goes along. Here’s Games in case you forgot from the last paragraph, how it shakes out: we’ll have an area set up with tools for Sea Monkeys to organize and communicate. Specifically, there will • A copy of "The SeaMonkey” will be delivered to your stateroom every day, starting the be easel pads that any Sea Monkey jean use to notify everyone about their plans (i.e., “Underwater D&D - evening Of Day 2. Thanks to our amazing Helper Main Pool - Friday 10 am; bring goggles”). We’ll also Monkeys and the incredible singing interns (new for have a table or two where Sea Monkeys can leave 2015!), we’ll be printing up and distributing a one- flyers or other notices—or just leave notes for one sheet version of The SeaMonkey to keep you updated another (“Analog Twitter”). And on the monitors just about what’s happening when with JoCo Cruise. Yes, outside the Game Room (Steve Jackson Games is just there’s a full schedule inside this newsletter, but who awesome for having sponsored the Game Room), knows what all might happen? you’ll find an updated list of the day’s JoCo Cruise • Twit-Arr, JoCo Cruise's Sea Monkey-created Official and Shadow Cruise activities. Because we and messaging service. It’s back and arr-ier than ever the ship both know how to use PowerPoint. before! Twit-Arr is a Twitter-like message board • Morning Announcements. Before each Official that’s free for JoCo Cruisers to use. You don’t have to concert event, we’ll make brief announcements about have Internet access to access it, and if you purchase any Official Schedule changes, additions, or other bits wifi it won’t burn your minutes. Complete details of of data that will be useful for planning your days. how to sign up and use Twit-Arr can be found on the next page of this newsletter. • Ask your fellow Sea Monkeys! They might not know any more than you do, but who knows? And • The CruiseMonkey App, also Sea Monkey-devel¬ maybe you’ll just decide to grab a drink and/or play oped, puts all the key JoCo Cruise info right at your some MtG or Zombie Dice with your new friend(s) fingertips on your smartphone or tablet. No paid instead. Internet is required to use the app onboard once you have downloaded it (so download it before we get to sea!). More info on CruiseMonkey can be found *if this is your 12th JoCo Cruise, it’s nice to see you immediately following the Twit-Arr info, just two again, and can you please show us how your time pages from here. machine works? INSTRUCTIONS ON USING TWIT-ARR Once you get onboard: • Connect to the ship’s WiFi network. Note:you do NOT need to purchase Internet time to use Twit-Arr. It is internal to the ship. • Apple iPhone and iPad users will need to do a special extra step at this point. See facing page. • In your web browser, go to http://jcc5.rccl.com - IMPORTANT: only two c’s! • Enjoy! You can view Twit-Arr without logging in, but you must create an account to post. Create an account • Click “Login” in the upper right corner of http://jcc5.rccl.com • Near the bottom of the Login screen, click the “I want to join” link. • Enter the nickname you wish to use, as well as your password. Your email address is required, but visible only to administrators. You will also need to create a security question as well as the corresponding answer in case you forget your password. IMPORTANT: For technical reasons this is not an encrypted site, so it is STRONGLY recommended that the password you enter here is one you currently do not use and that you will not use for any other website in the future. It should not be something personal or important. It should be something you wouldn’t be afraid to tell a random stranger. If you do forget your password, you can reset it if with the security question and answer in your profile. If all else fails, find one of the Twit-Arr admins. • Click the “Create” button. • Feel free to explore and post messages. New for JCC5: • Profile photos for seeing what people look like, or think they look like. • Forums. For conversations and stuff. • Search. Because people asked for it. • Animated GIFs. Also asked for. Known Issues: • Twit-Arr will work poorly or not at all on Android 2.3.X TWIT-ARR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS • Grimoire developed the initial Status.net site that was on JCCC2 and 3. • Origamislayer did much work for the Status.net implementation as well. • Glenn Basden (@gbasden) graciously brings the laptop server and provides technical support. • Benjamin Reed (@RangerRick) wrote CruiseMonkey & did Twit-Arr testing. • Nathan Walker (@Kvort), James Stapleton (@tasermonkey), and Emily Ozols (@Wingar) took the caterpillar that was JCCC4 Twit-Arr and turned it into the butterfly that is JCC5 Twit-Arr. None of this would be here without the invaluable aid of the beta testers 8c forum contributants, who tested and complained about broken things. INSTRUCTIONS ON USING CRUISEMONKEY Using the CruiseMonkey Web Version If you do not have the CruiseMonkey app installed, you can use CruiseMonkey from a regular web browser by browsing to: http://jcc5.rccl.com/cm/ The instructions below apply to both the browser and app versions. Configuring CruiseMonkey to Talk to the JCC5 Server CruiseMonkey should configure itself to talk to the Twitt-Arr server the first time you launch CruiseMonkey on the ship. If, for some reason, the auto-configuration fails, go to the “Advanced” tab, and enter the following settings: • Database Host: http://jcc5.rccl.com/db/ • Database Name: cruisemonkey-2015 • Twit-Arr URL: http://jcc5.rccl.com Troubleshooting CruiseMonkey Most issues with CruiseMonkey will likely be from not being able to connect to the network. To verify your connection to the server, open a web browser and go to http://jcc5.rccl.com. If you can’t view Twit-Arr, then see the special instructions below. Forcing Database Sync: 1. Go to “Settings” in the menu and tap “Force Database Sync” button. 2. If that does not work, tap “Reset Cache” in the “Settings” tab. This will delete your local event cache and re-sync the database. Note: If you have added or favorited any events since the last successful sync, they will be lost. 3. If that does not work, try killing (not deleting!) the app and restart, and see if it can re-establish sync. If that does not work, cry. Or contact Ben Reed (@RangerRick on Twit-Arr) for help. r Logging In to CruiseMonkey ( CruiseMonkey will work just fine -- as a read-only app. You can view SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR events, Twit-Arr pictures, deck iPHONE AND iPAD USERS plans, and so on. However, if you log in to CruiseMonkey using your Twit-Arr account, it will add new To connect to the Wi-Fi without connecting to the Internet, do options, including creating your the following (if you connected last year it may still work) own “shadow cruise” events, favor- • Go into Settings —> Wi-Fi iting events, and getting notified when you have a Seamail message • Select the ship Wi-Fi network in Twit-Arr. • Tap Cancel on the login screen that pops up • Tap the (i) symbol next to the ship’s Wi-Fi network • Turn on Auto-Join • Turn off Auto-Login To log in, you must first have • Tap Join Network created a Twit-Arr account using the instructions on the NOTE: If you wish to use the ship’s Internet, you must switch Au¬ previous page! to-Login back to on and log in to Royal Caribbean’s site. THANK YOU to our noble, generous, wubbulous, PofHc BADGE & VCII UO LANYARD SPONSO and keen-eyed Against sponsors who are Humanity so important to SyCoChuM A party game for horrible people. Welcome to the JoCo Cruise! On behalf of all of us here at Cards Against Humanity, wash your hands. as we continue to build out more and more complex programming. greater/than/games® was established in 2011 with a focus on making the games that we have always wanted to play. Our first game combined cooperative game play JENN ELLIS and KEITH BAKER with super heroics to make the smash-hit Organizers of the Official Table Top Gaming Events Sentinels of the Multiverse'. 6 Mysteky*Brlwing JoCo Cruise thanks We proudly support ft THE AWESOME NERDS THAT ARE ARTISTS. SCIENTISTS, AND ENGINEERS BECAUSE WE RE MADE OUT OF THEM. LOONEY LABS Thanks for doing for their WHAT YOU LOVE TO DO. support LOVE, MYSTERY Thank you to THINM330 JOIN IN. GEEK OUT. for their GEEK CHIC continued support of JoCo Cruise PREMIUM GEEK LIFESTYLE EXPERIENCES IT'S HOW YOU PLAY THE GAME THAT COUNTS 7 DECK 2 (D2) DECK 3 (D3) DECK 4 (D4) Game Room Studio B Labyrinth (upper level) Helper Monkey Help Desk On Air Club Main Dining Room (upper level) Alhambra Theatre (main level) Labyrinth (main level) Alhambra Theatre (first balcony) Main Dining Room (main level) ALHAMBRA THEATRE Main concerts New Monkey orientation Celebrity Artemis gather for group photo Q GAME ENTRANCE . ROOM LL sponsored by Steve Jackson Games COCNEFNERTEERN CE Gaming Panels Shadow Cruise events STUDIO B Cocktail parties Rock shows Dance parties Ice skating (enter from 03 Forward) 24«V «j 2425 [l lllf 2325 nil zm m\ Mi H LL < *357 zm .??S9 zmi mi zm jssi 23651 2667 '236/' 2369', m zm PORT STARBOARD PORT STARBOARD PORT STARBOARD i h'1’ *s vai ,j \ * f miii p * t • DECK 5 (D5) DECK 11 (Dll) DECK 14 (D14) Pyramid Lounge Main Pool “Ten Forward” PYRAMID D LOUNGE W JoCo Cruise Management Q&A Various other events F SORRENTO’S Late-night pizza! 2 CADOCkmVC I_§ Hi 00G& BADGER PUB t n ICE CREAM PARLOR ! CAFE CUPCAKE PROMENADE CUPBOARD T F A KING LEAR DINING ROOM Gaming events PORT STARBOARD PORT STARBOARD BITS OF USEFUL INFO THAT DIDN’T FIT ANYWHERE ELSE MONARCH OF THE SEAS Of course, you’re free to eat elsewhere on the ship any Shortly before the first Official concert, which is time you like, but why miss the fun (and the famous Jonathan Coulton’s full band show at 9 pm tonight in Warm Bread)? Unless you pre-arranged to have Fixed Studio B, we’ll be crowning this year’s “Monarch of the Seating, you can sit at any table with a white “JoCo Seas.” No, this is not a new brand of canned tuna, but Cruise - Open Seating” table tent. actual maritime royalty, chosen by a random drawing. If DISCOUNTED INTERNET you are selected, get ready to be addressed as “Your Worship”, “Grand Moff”, “Timelord”, “Planeswalker”, If you just can’t live without a fresh feed of LOLcats, ‘Groot”, et cetera, as befits your new status. If you’re we’ve arranged a special discounted rate for JoCo Cruis¬ NOT selected, be ready to address the Monarch of the ers. Rates have yet to be determined at the time of this Seas as “Your Worship”, “Grand Moff”, “Time Lord”, printing, but for certain it’ll be less than what those Tlanes-walker”, “Groot”, etc., as befits their new status. unfortunate non-Sea Monkey passengers are paying! Bear in mind that Internet at sea is veeery sloooooow, FOR SMOKERS or THOSE WHO WISH TO and is not suitable for streaming services of any kind. AVOID SMOKERS SHIP TIME VERSUS ATLANTIC TIME There are only a limited number of public areas where smoking is permitted, including the Connoisseur’s Club Did you know on our voyage, the time on the Independence bar near the casino, and certain areas of the casino itself will vary depending on where we are, which is very (there will also be a non-smoking night). Some areas on important to be aware of, when it comes to showing up the open deck are also smoking-permitted; please see on time to events, making it back to the ship, etc. A the ship’s materials for more information. Also please notice will be sent to your cabin by the ship when these note RCI’s policy about smoking on your balcony: changes occur, with details on how you should adjust VERBOTEN (i.e. do not smoke on your balcony). the time on your watches, laptops, tablets, magic rings, etc. to keep up with the times. The JCC schedule NOT SO FAST, NO-FACE! always takes place on ship time. Due to RCI safety regulations, no full-face masks are PERFORMER MERCHANDISE AND JOCO allowed in the RCI public areas at any time. So, cosplay- CRUISE OFFICIAL MERCHANDISE ers, please be sure that your face (or a reasonable portion thereof) is always visible. Thank you for your Many of the performers will have merchandise available cooperation with this RCI policy. for sale immediately after their performances, and/or in the ship’s gift shop, where you can also purchase KNOW WHERE YOUR TOWEL IS Official JoCo Cruise merchandise. Best of all: you can You’ll notice that if you get a towel from the ship’s crew use your SeaPass for purchases, so you don’t have to on deck or on your way to the beach, they ask for your handle any messy, unsanitary cash, thus reducing the key card. If the towel isn’t returned, they will charge necessity of washing your hands, which we encourage your account a $25 fee. But we’re all hoopy froods, so you to do well and often just the same. it’s no biggie—just make sure that a staff member scans If you purchased JoCo Cruise 2015 merch online, you your card again when you turn it back in (i.e. DO NOT can pick it up during JCC Registration. If for some bring it back to your stateroom!) reason you’re unable to pick it up during that time, see a Helper Monkey to find out how to claim your awesome DINING IN STYLE stuff. Our group is large enough now that not only will we Due to contractual agreements with RCI, sales trans¬ occupy the entire lower floor of the main dining room, actions by individuals are strictly forbidden. Please but we also have tables reserved on the next level as don’t do this. If you run afoul of RCI management that’s well. Our dinner seating is at 6:00 pm every night, which bad for everybody. allows us the maximum flexibility for event scheduling.